


Find where you belong

by Kangoo



Category: Neko no Ongaeshi | The Cat Returns
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Yuki-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23265430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangoo/pseuds/Kangoo
Summary: Haru adopts a stray white kitten. It doesn't change much, in the great scheme of things, but to Yuki, it means the world
Relationships: Lune/Yuki (Neko no Ongaeshi)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Find where you belong

Naoko watches her daughter give an entire box of her favorite cookies to a stray kitten and smiles, chest filling with warmth at the sight. Haru tells her she was speaking to the cat and she grins and nods along, holding her hand as she listens to what the cat ‘said’. She’s right: it _is_ tough to survive in this world, when you’re that small and alone. 

The next day, the kitten is still there. It mews pitifully as Haru, but she has nothing to give it to eat. Naoko squeezes her hand in comfort, and later that night she lets herself be convinced to leave some milk out for the cat. It’s nowhere to be seen, but the saucer is empty in the morning.

The day after that, they leave uneaten bits of fish from their dinner. 

By the end of the week, with the cat showing no signs of leaving, Naoko just smiles, shakes her head and says, “We might as well bring it inside.”

Haru names her _Yuki_ with the definitive assurance of a child who can talk to cats to ask them their name. 

Yuki and Haru grow up together and are practically inseparable. Yuki goes to sleep curled next to Haru’s pillow every night, and she meets her at the door every day after school. They play together in the garden. They share their fish cookies. She never knows hunger or cold again.

She doesn’t talk to Haru again, because she doesn’t want the girl to appear weird or crazy to her classmates. But Haru still talks to her the way any human does to their cats, and Yuki never stops listening. If only because Haru is a never-ending source of amusement to her. She curls in the hollow of her back while Haru gushes about her latest crush and purrs comfortingly against her cheek when she’s sad about a bad grade or Machida getting a girlfriend.

It feels important, taking care of Haru the way Haru took care of her when she was still young and hungry.

So when cats from the Kingdom start loitering around their house, she makes it her mission to keep an eye on them and make sure they’re not making any trouble. There’s a black cat in particular who always stares back at her from the edge of the garden, never setting a paw in her territory but still… watching her with his mismatched eyes. 

(“Hey mom, look: the cute black cat is back! Do you think he likes Yuki?”)

Then of course Haru has to go save that idiot cat from a moving truck. Her brave, kind Haru. Yuki hears about it from the rumor mill — cats are relentless gossip — and spends the hour it takes Haru to come home staring nervously through the window. She won’t believe she’s alright until she’s seen her safe and whole.

That night, the King’s retinue stops in front of their house. That’s when Yuki realizes how much trouble her human got in.

The catnip is a nice touch: she admits to spending most of the morning rolling in it in glee. The cats running after her and the mice, less so, but not altogether dangerous. Still, Yuki keeps following her, and when one of the King’s cats approaches Haru to tell her she’s to be wed to the _prince_ …

That’s when Yuki decides to break her self-imposed rule. She jumps down from the tree she was hiding in, landing gracefully on Haru’s shoulders, and tells her, “Go to the Cat Bureau. They’re sure to help.”

Haru almost falls right back on her behind. Yuki jumps off before she’s dragged down with her and gets up on her hindlegs, smiling softly at her human.

“Y-Yuki? You can talk?”

“Of course I can,” she says. “Don’t you remember when we first met?”

Naoko told her the story the other night, so of course she knows. Still she looks shaken, and they don’t have time for that. As much as Yuki would like to stay and chat, they are in a hurry.

“We must go to the Cat Bureau,” she repeats. “There’s a big white cat at the Crossroad who knows the way.”

Haru blinks at her slowly, as if to make sure she’s not dreaming. Then she nods, gathers up Yuki in her arms, and takes the direction of the Crossroad.

Muta is not what she expected. Neither is Baron, though he’s as charming as she had heard. He kisses her paw in greeting, like a gentleman, and says in his calm, assured voice that he’ll help them. She’s almost disappointed they don’t have a magic solution to their problem — even more so when they don’t even get the chance to try this chiffon cake. 

Things are a blur after that. Chasing after the cats who kidnapped Haru, flying after the magical portal to find the way to the Kingdom— through it all she’s terrified for her human, who’s all alone in this, without Yuki to keep an eye on her. They wouldn’t hurt her, but… What if Yuki’s too late?

Baron, noticing her anxiety, tries to reassure her. “Muta can protect her. And I won’t let her be trapped there, Miss Yuki, do not worry.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I never do.”

That does reassure her.

While Baron prepares his grand entrance, Yuki slips into the kitchen disguised as a servant. There’s so many of them it’s easy to go unnoticed. 

When she sees Haru, distraught and alone — and Muta… jellified? — she feels her heart squeeze. She wants to go to her human and tell her everything will be alright, but she can’t. Instead she keeps her head down, fills the empty glasses that are waved in her direction, and waits for her cue.

(Baron is a wonderful dancer. She sighs, a bit wistfully, at the sight of him and Haru spinning around the room. This is the kind of rescue she dreamt of as a kitten, and it feels bittersweet to have such a thing happen to her most precious person instead.)

It breaks her heart to leave the two of them, but while they find their way through the labyrinth… There’s someone she needs to find.

She runs through the fields of the Kingdom, as fast as her four legs can take her, until she finds a cat wearing the uniform of the prince’s troops.

“The King is unwell,” she tells them honestly. He’s insane: it should count. “Where is Prince Lune?”

The soldier leads her to their superior officer, who leads her to _his_ superior officer, and if this one hadn’t brought her to the prince she would have clawed someone’s eye out, damn her shy disposition. Her human is in danger.

Fortunately, she doesn’t have to go to such length. She finds herself face to face with Prince Lune and thinks, briefly, that he looks very handsome in his uniform. But she has been staring at him from the other side of a window for weeks now and he’s familiar enough that she feels no fear drawing to her full height, even though it’s not much, to look him in the eyes.

“Your father is trying to force my human to marry you,” she says. “Please, I need your help.”

He reacts quickly, and soon they are running towards the palace, followed closely by their troops.

For a moment it almost seems like everything will be easy, now that he’s here.

But then they see that the King has brought the Tower down, and she’s reminded that nothing is ever easy in the Cat Kingdom.

Lune faces his father. Tells him he won’t marry Haru under any circumstance. Tell him—

“I would like the chance to court Miss Yuki, if she will let me.”

Yuki draws back, surprised. This single sentence puts in perspective every encounter she’s had with this strange cat, and when she turns to him he’s looking at her with gentle, hopeful eyes.

“I- Yes,” she replies, at a loss for words.

When she looks at Haru again, the girl winks in an encouraging manner, and she feels herself blush.

Of course, that’s not enough to deter the King, and there’s more running and falling and narrowly avoiding a terrible fate. 

But once they’re back home, safe and sound, with Haru sleeping peacefully in her own bed, human again…

Yuki can’t help but grin, giddy with a feeling she can’t quite place. This time, when the Cat Kingdom comes back to knock on the window, she’ll be ready. 

She might even let him in.


End file.
